At a time when Europe is facing a populist wave, there is no comparative survey data capturing together populist attitudes, their sociological determinants and the psycho-political characteristics of voters. The POPEUROPA research project aims to fill this gap. It offers a general analytical and methodological framework for the measure and the comparative analysis of populist attitudes of European citizens. Drawing a link between socio-political factors, psycho-social factors and political values, attitudes and behaviors, the questionnaire brings together existing measures that were used in a disparate way and new ad hoc indicators. The database from the surveys fielded online during April 2019 in six European countries selected for the variety of their national socio-political configurations (Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, N=1300 each), enables to:
- Systematize the empirical test of several key hypotheses thanks to the comparative nature of the data,
- Innovate in the understanding of psychological underpinning of populism by the introduction of validated psycho-political measures, but still marginal in political surveys at the moment,
- Enrich the literature thank to the analysis of the structure of relations between populist attitudes, sociological determinants and psycho-political characteristics
- Provide novel data on demands for democracy, in addition to classic evaluative items
- Allow for a better understanding of the specificities of populist demand, especially on the left and right, through multiple combination of value items about economic, cultural and integration issues.
